LoveSpell: Against Endings by Erica Jong

All the endings in my liferise up against melike that sea of troublesShakespeare mixedwith metaphors;like Vikings in their boatssinging Wagner,like witchesburning atthe stake--I submitto my fate.

I know beginnings,their sweetnesses,and endings,their bitternesses--but I do not knowcontinuance--I do not knowthe sweet demi-boredomof life as it lingers,of man and wiferegarding each otheracross a table of shared witnesses,of the hand-in-hand dreamsof those who have slepta half-century togetherin a bed so used and familiarit is ruttedwith love.

I would know thatbefore this life closes,a soulmate to share my roses--I would make a spellwith long grey beard hairsand powdered rosemary and rue,with the jacket of a tuxfor a tall manwith broad shoulders,who loves to dance;with one blue contact lensfor his bluest eyes;with honey in a jarfor his love of me;with salt in a dishfor his love of sex and skin;with crushed rose petalsfor our bed;with tubes of cerulean blueand vermilion and rose madderfor his artist's eye;with a dented Land-Rover fenderfor his love of travel;with a poem by Blakefor his love of innocencerevealed by experience;with soft rainand a bare head;with hand-in-hand dreams on Mondaysand the land of fuckon Sundays;with mangoes, papayasand limes,and a house toweringabove the sea.